We Could Do It
by Spaidel
Summary: "We could do it, you know," Gale said quietly. "Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it." That's what Gale said to Katniss in the book. But in this story, Katniss actually agreed to go with him.
1. Chapter 1

**So, a new story, about what would've happened if Katniss actually agreed to leave District Twelve with Gale.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

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**Chapter 1**

_Katniss' POV_

"We could do it, you know," Gale said quietly.

I looked at him with a questioning look. "What?" I asked.

"Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it," Gale said.

"We can't," I said. "Leave, I mean. You have you siblings. I have Prim. We can't leave."

"We'll take them with us," He suggested.

"Really? And how exactly would that work out? We can't drag them with us," I said, the idea absurd in my mind.

"Why not?" He asked.

"They're too young!"

He bit his lower lip. "Prim is twelve years old. When you were twelve years old, you already started hunting."

"That's not the same," I snapped.

"How so?"

"Prim and I are not the same. She would never hunt. She tried, and she couldn't do it. You can't compare her to me."

We were both silent for a long time.

"So, what?" He said finally. "You prefer to stay here? In the district? Nothing can be worse than staying here."

He was right, but I didn't tell him that. District Twelve was, by far, the worst of all the districts. Which really said something. All of the districts were awful. Well, aside from Districts One and Two.

"We shouldn't live that way," Gale continued quietly. "You and I. We're not built to live in that district, under so many rules."

Again, he was right. District Twelve, even though was my home, made me sick. The depression and hopelessness of the people made me sick. The hunger, the constant fight to live.

And then I realized that I really did want to escape. Escape this way of living, in constant fear, constant hunger, constant hopelessness.

"I need to be here for Prim," I said finally. I couldn't leave her. I just couldn't.

"We'll take her with us," Gale repeated what he said before. "And my siblings."

"You can't take your siblings. The oldest of them is the same age as Prim."

Gale ran a hand through his hair. "I'll ask my mom to come, too."

"We can't run away with both our families!" I said, realizing it was very loudly. I cleared my throat.

Gale looked angry now. "So what, I should just ditch them?"

I shifted in my place uncomfortably. "I didn't mean that. I meant… they'll catch us. The Peacekeepers. If we'll run away with both of our families, we'll be too slow. They'll catch us."

Gale knew I was right, and I could see that from his face expression. He looked defeated.

"We don't need to run," I said finally.

"We do," He disagreed. "I can't stay here. I need to run away. And so do you."

I looked at the ground, then back at him. "Okay," I said finally, my voice barely audible.

"What?" He asked.

"I said, okay. Let's leave."

He looked surprised, then smiled. "Okay then."

"When do you want to leave?"

Gale looked at the trees that were behind us. "Now."

"Now?"

"Now."

He got on his feet and waited for me to get on my feet as well.

"What about our families then?" I asked.

"Talk with Prim. Tell her about that. I'll talk to my mom."

"What if they won't want to come with us?"

He hesitated, then said, "Then we'll run off without them."

Now it was my turn to hesitate. "But they could starve to death."

"Not if they'd stick together," Gale said. "Rory and Vick can hunt."

"Not as good as us," I said.

"No," He agreed. "But they can still hunt. I taught them a few things, they already hunted animals without my help. They can help. They can take care of Prim."

"We will be cowards," I informed him. "If we'll run off. It'd seem like we ran off because we didn't want to take responsibility of our families."

Gale ran a hand through his hair. "It's all because of the Capitol!" He snapped suddenly. "Because of them, we can't do anything. We can barely exist."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it," I said matter-of-factly.

Gale seemed to think about it. "We can try," He said finally, still deep in thought.

"Try what?"

"Overthrow them," He said slowly. "The Capitol. We can try."

I looked at him, sure that he lost his mind.

And then I snorted. "Are you kidding?"

He shot me an annoyed look.

So, apparently he wasn't kidding.

"We can't overthrow them!" I said, still hoping that he was kidding.

"Why not?"

"Because, I'm sixteen, you're eighteen, we're only two, we can't do it on our own!"

"Who said we'll do it on our own?"

I looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, what if we'll form a group of rebels?"

"And where can we find a group of rebels?" I asked.

"In the districts!" He said, his eyes glinting excitedly. "Think about it! There's no way we wouldn't find people who hate the Capitol!"

"And what then, Gale?" I asked impatiently. "Even if we find a group of rebels who are ready to fight the Capitol, what will we do? We're not as strong as them! We're from the districts, they're from the Capitol, and that's the way it is."

"Only because we let it stay that way," Gale said quietly.

"We're not strong enough," I repeated.

"We will be," Gale said.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I have faith in us, that we can make a change. We can really do it."

I took a deep breath, still not knowing what to think.

"This will save them," Gale then said quietly. "My mom. Rory. Vick. Posy. Your mom. Prim."

When he said her name, Prim, I made up my mind.

"Let's meet here in twenty minutes," I said. He smiled.

We made our way back to the district. I went to my house and Gale went to his.

The minute I stepped into the house, Prim ran to me.

"Katniss! The Reaping is in one hour, why did you come home so late?" She asked, disapproving of my lateness.

"I'm sorry," I said, not knowing what else to say. Now, that I was in front of her, I wasn't as sure about mine and Gale's plan to leave.

I had to just say it.

"Prim, I need to tell you something," I started, uncertain on how to continue that sentence.

"You need to get ready, Katniss," Prim said.

"No, I don't." I sighed. "Prim, I'm leaving."

Prim looked at me with questioning eyes.

"What?" She asked, apparently thinking she didn't hear my right.

"Gale and I," I said quietly. "We're leaving. The district."

She looked confused. "Where are you going?"

"To the woods," I said. I didn't want to tell her too much, because she could go and tell about it to everyone. She was still so young.

"You're always going to the woods," Prim said, not understanding.

I took a deep breath. "But this time, we're not coming back."

Her eyes widened. "What? What do you mean?"

God, this was hard. Prim didn't understand. "We need to go," I said finally. "You need to come with us."

Her eyes were even wider than before. "Go with you where? To the woods?" She shook her head. "No. No, I'm not going."

"Prim, please!" I sounded desperate. I couldn't leave her behind. I just couldn't.

"This is my home," Prim said stubbornly. "_Our_ home. _Your_ home! You need to stay! You shouldn't convince me to go with you!"

"Please, Prim, there isn't much time until we leave…" I knew I was fighting a lost battle. I couldn't force her to come if she didn't want to, but I didn't want to leave her behind. I needed her to come.

But she was stubborn and shook her head. "No," She repeated. "_You_ need to stay."

"I can't," I said quietly.

"Yes, you can!" She said loudly, tears streaming down her face. I flinched. I hated it when she cried, and now she cried because of me, because I wanted to leave. Because I was about to leave her. "I need you to stay," She then said quietly, her voice choked with tears.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I need to go. Overthrow the Capitol will make her free as well. "I'm sorry Prim," I said quietly, then walked to my room. My arrows and bow were already with me. I grabbed a small, torn bag. I started to put my clothes inside the bag. I didn't have much to take, but that was okay.

But Prim wasn't about to just let me go. She grabbed my leg, hugging it tightly with her small arms like she did when she was little. "Stay," She said, crying even more than before.

And now I was crying too, because I just broke my little sister's heart and she cried because of me. "I'm sorry," I said again, my voice barely audible but I knew she heard me. I kneeled down beside her. She was still holding my leg tightly, not about to let go.

I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her as tightly as I could. "You won't be alone," I whispered in her ear. "Mom is here for you. Gale's family is here for you."

"But you won't be here for me!" Her choked words made my heart clench, but I've already made up my mind.

I saw my mother walking into the room. My tears made her look blurry, but I could still see her face expression. She wasn't angry. She wasn't devastated. She wasn't crying.

It almost seemed like she knew it was going to happen. That one day, I'll walk away and leave them behind.

Maybe she did expect it. After all, I was the one who had to take care of them all those years. I had to bring food home, because mom didn't do it. I was the one who kept us alive.

And I was just sixteen years old.

So maybe she did expect that. Maybe she thought that I couldn't take it anymore and decided that I prefer to live freely and happy than live with them, where I have to feed them and take care of them and not think about myself at all.

That wasn't the reason why I was running away. I wanted to leave because I wanted them to live a better life. Overthrowing the Capitol will guarantee that.

Gale was right. It was all because of the Capitol. Our misfortune, our misery. It was because of them.

And that thought was what made me let go of Prim. I tried to make her let go off me, but she did the best she could to stay glued to my leg. My mom didn't say a word. She came over and helped me get Prim off my leg. Prim tried to fight her, but my mom held her tightly.

"If you run, you need to do it before the Reaping," My mom said quietly, her voice hoarse. She barely talked anymore, and when she did, her voice was always hoarse.

I nodded my head. The Peacekeepers will come to see where I am when I won't come to the Reaping. I had to go, and I had to go now.

"Take care of her," I said as firmly as I could, but I was still crying and my voice still sounded a bit choked.

My mom nodded her head. I didn't believe she'd actually take care of her, but I knew for certain that Vick and Rory would.

And still, I felt like my heart was bleeding when I grabbed the backpack and left Prim behind.

She had mom, and she had that ugly cat she liked.

She wasn't alone.

I kept repeating that in my head as I made my way back to the hill, out of District Twelve. Gale already waited for me there, with a bag of his own and a small loaf in his hand. He looked shaken, his hands shook slightly. I knew why. It was because he just left his family behind. The most important people in his life were now staying here, unprotected, unsafe.

He looked at me as I made my way to him. I knew my eyes were red and that it looked like I was crying, but I didn't care. I wasn't embarrassed by it. I hated crying because I hated to look weak, but right now I felt weak. I didn't care.

Gale nodded at me when I stopped in front of him. "Mom gave us this," He said simply and showed me the loaf he had.

I nodded my head without saying anything.

He looked at me more closely. He realized that I cried.

He got closer to me and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me warmly. And I felt secure in his embrace. The hug was so familiar, _he_ was so familiar. It made me feel safe.

I relaxed completely and hugged him back, my head resting on his chest. We stayed like this for a while, and then I stepped back.

Gale offered me half of his loaf, but I declined and told him to keep it for later. We can eat it before we sleep tonight, I told him. He nodded his head and put the small loaf in his bag after wrapping it with a soft, small cloth.

"Are you ready for it?" He asked me. And I saw that he was ready to go. Leaving our families behind was like leaving a piece of us behind, but he knew that he couldn't go with them.

And I knew that too.

"Let's go," I said back, and we walked into the familiar wood.

No turning back now.

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**I hope you liked it and that it didn't seem too rushed, and please review!**

**And have a lovely day :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

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**Chapter 2**

_Gale's POV_

We ran at first, trying to get as much space between us and District Twelve. Katniss grew tired an hour later, and we decided to walk fast instead. If they'd come and search for us, then we wanted to be as far away from them as possible.

The feelings inside of me made no sense to me. I was sad because I just left my family behind, terrified from what to come, and in euphoria for leaving the district I despised.

I still wasn't entirely sure if I made the right decision about leaving my family behind, but I tried not to dwell on it and just keep moving. I couldn't change anything now, I just had to keep going.

Katniss was being really quiet this whole time, and I knew why; she was regretting the decision to leave Prim behind, she was regretting her decision to run away with me. I stayed quiet too, because it seemed like she was deep in thoughts and I didn't want to bother her.

As we kept walking I grew hungrier and hungrier, and so did Katniss. I could hear her stomach growl. It made me smile.

"Want to eat?" I asked finally after a really loud growl came from Katniss.

Katniss looked at me, then smiled weakly. "You heard that?"

"Catnip, half the wood ran away in fear because of your growling stomach."

Katniss couldn't hide her blush. "It wasn't _that_ loud," She protested.

"Yes it was."

Katniss rolled her eyes and sat down on a rock. "Let's have a break," She said simply.

I nodded my head and sat down next to her, on the ground. "Want to eat the bread now, or do you still want to keep it for later?" I asked her.

She bit her lower lip, then looked up at the sky. "Let's eat it now," She said finally. "And after we eat it, we'll hunt. If we won't eat the bread soon it'll be disgusting."

I grabbed my backpack and searched inside it until I found the loaf of bread my mom gave me. When I told my mom I was leaving the district, she begged me not to. My brothers begged me not to. My sister was too young to really realize what was happening. I told my mom that I wanted to go, that I needed it. She said I have everything I want in here, in District Twelve, and that I can't leave her and my siblings behind.

I argued with my mom for a few long minutes. She couldn't keep me here, I told her. I deserved better than District Twelve, and so did she. She shook her head and told me she's content here, and that as long as we're alive then everything's good.

In the end she realized she wasn't able to keep me here, and told me to not do anything stupid. I was quiet when she said that. She kissed me on the cheek and, crying, handed me the loaf of bread, our last loaf of bread. She begged me not to die. I begged her the same thing.

Katniss and I ate the loaf of bread in silence, each of us thinking about what would happen next. I didn't know where the other districts were, and neither did she, so we just decided to walk deeper and deeper into the woods. It might be dangerous and we knew it, but we didn't have a better idea. We'd have to get to somewhere in the end.

The bread was finished rather quickly, Katniss and I were both hungry after all and the bread was good, and so we both stood up and grabbed our weapons. I took my traps and Katniss took her bow and arrows.

I set the traps in different places around us. It was already getting darker and Katniss and I both agreed not to walk in the woods at night. We decided to stay here until sunrise, and then continue with our walk.

After I set all of the traps, I searched for Katniss. I found her easily enough not too far away from me, holding a dead chicken.

She saw me getting closer to her and handed me the dead chicken. "Want to eat it like that?" She asked, hesitating.

"What? With the… feathers and all?" Well, that was disgusting. And inedible. "It can get us sick," I said, knowing that it was the truth.

Katniss nodded her head, agreeing with me. "Do you want to build a fire?"

"I've never really built a fire before…" I said and ran a hand through my hair.

"Well, neither did I," Katniss said, starting to get panicked. "So, what, now because we don't know how to build a fire we'll starve to death? We can't build a fire using rocks and sticks! What are we going to do? Are we just going to starve to death?"

"I guess so," I said seriously, shaking my head. "So sad. And I even brought matches and all."

I looked at her with a smile as her face turned from panicked to angry. "Gale!"

"Yes, Catnip?"

"You made me feel like we would starve to death!"

"Oh, Catnip, it was just a bit of fun."

Katniss frowned at me, but I knew her. She wasn't too mad.

"So where are the matches you brought?" She asked me as she made her way to my backpack.

I told her where it was exactly, and she built the fire as I cleaned the big chicken. The chicken looked less big after I cleaned it and got rid of all the fathers, but it was big enough for both me and Katniss.

As we put the chicken in the small fire, I pulled out of my backpack a small blanket and covered Katniss and I. It was quite cold, and I saw her shaking slightly.

She clung to the blanket and looked at the small fire.

"How many matches did you use?" I asked her.

"Two," She said. "We now have nine left."

"We need to save as much matches as possible," I said.

"I know," She replied. "But we have to use them. We're going to run out of matches sooner or later."

I ran a hand through my hair, thinking. "Maybe in the morning we can eat edible plants… then in the afternoon we'll hunt and by night we'll eat what we caught. That way we only build a fire once a day, and the matches we have can get us through at least a week."

Katniss nodded her head, it's not like we had any better plan, then looked at the trees around her. "I love the woods," She said quietly, almost smiling. "I love the feeling of protection it gives me. It makes me feel…"

"Whole," I completed her sentence, and she looked at me and nodded her head.

"Yes," She said quietly.

"I know what you mean," I said, because I really did know what she meant. "It's like a part of me will always belong here, in the woods. With you."

Katniss bit her lower lip and looked at the chicken in the fire once again. "We should get the chicken out," She said simply and got to her feet.

We ate the chicken hungrily, we barely ate today after all, and finished it pretty quickly. It was tasty, even if it turned out a bit too burnt.

I searched for dry wood and tinder, and returned to where Katniss was half an hour later with hands full of tinder and wood. The fire became bigger, and it became increasingly warmer.

As Katniss and I became more and more tired, we lay on the dirty ground with my blanket and tried to make ourselves comfortable.

"Are you cold?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No, I'm okay."

We stayed quiet for a few long minutes.

"Where do you think she's now?" Katniss suddenly asked.

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Prim. Where do you think she is now? What do you think she's doing?"

I looked at her. She looked at the sky with a blank expression on her face.

"I don't know," I said finally. "Where do _you_ think she is right now?"

I wanted to let Katniss answer her own question. Because it seemed like she wanted to talk about it, and I wanted to give her the opportunity to talk about Prim to me, to remember her out loud.

It took Katniss a while to answer her own question. "Well," She said finally. "She's probably at home right now, because she hates being outside when it's dark… and she's probably eating something, because she doesn't eat much during the day and prefer to eat at the end of the day… maybe mom's sitting with her… Buttercup is definitely sitting with her right now, it never leaves her alone… I hope she's doing okay."

I didn't hesitate when I reached out and held her hand underneath the blanket. She turned her head to look at me, maybe a bit surprised, but didn't pull her hand away.

"Do you miss them?" She asked me.

I didn't need to ask her who she meant; it was obvious.

"Yes," I said quietly. I missed them so much, it tore me apart to walk away from them. But being here, with Katniss… it made me feel like she reconnected all of my pieces together and kept me going. Without doing anything, she made me feel whole. Her mere presence made me feel better and not like I was torn to pieces.

She hesitated for a second before she asked me, "Do you think we made the right decision when we decided to leave…?"

"Yes," I said immediately and firmly.

She was quiet.

"Do you?" I asked.

"Do I what?"

"Think we made the right decision."

She chewed on her lower lip. "Yeah," She said finally.

A wave of relief washed over my body when she said that. "Well, good. You made me doubt that for a minute."

She smiled a small smile. "Were you worried that I'd go back to the district?"

"Well, yes." I didn't even try to deny it. There was no point to anyway. Katniss knew me, and knew me well. She knew when I lied to her.

"I wouldn't leave you alone," She said quietly. "Never. No matter what."

I smiled a weak smile at her words. "Well, remember that when you'll want to leave me."

She frowned at me. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, you'd probably want to return to District Twelve eventually. And when the time will come, I know that you'd leave me behind to return to your family. To return to Prim."

Katniss looked at me, still frowning, then said, "I already made my decision. I came here with you, didn't I? I chose you. I made my decision."

I didn't know if she really meant it. Maybe she herself didn't know if she really meant it. All I knew was that Katniss will always care for Prim more than she cared for me. And I was okay with it, because Prim was her sister and I understood her need to protect her. But I did prepare myself for the eventual heartbreak, when she'd tell me that she decided to return to District Twelve. I needed the preparation, so that when it'll happen, I won't feel as broken hearted and alone.

Of course, I couldn't know for sure that she'll want to return. But the possibility of that happening was enough to frighten me.

"Gale?" I heard Katniss ask me with an uncertain look.

I looked at her. "Just… I really, really hope that you won't leave me."

"I won't," She said, sounding surprised that I even guessed her decision to come here with me. "You need to believe me, Gale, that when I say that I won't leave, then I won't."

And when she said that, I believed her.

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**A lot of you asked if Prim's going to get reaped.**

**Well, the answer...**

**...**

**...**

**Will be discovered later in the story.**

**Sorry!**

**Hope you all have a lovely day, and REVIEW! :D**


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